Spark and gas control



April 7, 1953 s. H. NEW, JR, ET AL 2,633,757

SPARK AND GAS CONTROL Filed June so, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 84 74 5am H. New J1: 70 92 Ray L. McCm's/on IN V EN TORS BY (Fanny 3 M3 1 April 7, 1953 s. H. NEW, JR., ET AL SPARK AND GAS CONTROL 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed June 30, 1950 INVENTORS @1 32".

am H. Mm Roy L. McCuzs/on BY @m Patented Apr. 7, 1953 SPARK AND GAS' CONTROL Sam H. New, J r., and Roy L. McOuiston, Austin, Tex.

Application June 30, 1950, Serial No. 171,264

Claims.

This invention comprises novel and useful improvements in outboard motor controls, and more particularly pertains to an attachment for an outboard motor whereby the spark and gas controls of the latter may be actuated from a remotely positioned throttle.

An important object of this invention is to provide a spark and gas control attachment for outboard motors, which may be actuated from I a remote point.

A further object of this invention is to provide an attachment, in accordance with the foregoing object, which can be readily mounted upon conventional outboard motors, without requiring a modification in design or change in the manner of operation thereof; which is compact; and which is of simple and efficient construction and operation.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a control for the spark and gas controls on an outboard motor, which control can be utilized to operatively connect the spark and gas control lever of an outboard motor, to a remotely positioned throttle, which throttle operates through a shorter working distance than does the spark and gas control lever.

An important feature of this invention resides in the provision of a stator pulley which is operatively attached to the spark and gas control lever, for movement therewith, and a control pulley which is mounted upon the side of a motor for rotation in a plane transverse to the plane of rotation of the stator pulley, with means operatively connecting said pulleys, and with an actuating cable operatively attached to the control pulley.

Another important feature of this invention resides in the provision of a spark and gas control attachment, in accordance with the foregoing feature, together with an improved means for adjustably and non-slidably connecting a belt to said pulley.

Yet another feature of this invention resides in the provision of a spark and gas control attachmen't, in accordance with the foregoing fea tures, together with an improved means for attaching a Bowden wire to said attachment, to selectively actuate the latter.

These, together with various ancillary objects and features, are attained by this device, the preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated, by way of example only, in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the spark and gas control attachment shown mounted upon an outboard motor;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the spark and gas control attachment, shown mounted upon an outboard motor with the flywheel removed there-' from;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a boat having an outboard motor mounted thereon, with a remotely positioned throttle shown operatively connected to the motor;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the spark and gas control attachment;

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the control pulley showing the manner in which the belt is adjustably and non-slidably connected thereto;

Figure 6 is a perspective elevational view of a device for pivotally and non-slidably connecting a Bowden wire housing or cable to a mounting plate; and

Figure '7 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view of the control pulley, showing the manner in which it is mounted upon the bracket.

It has been found convenient and desirable to be able to control outboard motors from a point forwardly on the boat, and such a control necessitates, in addition to a mechanism for steering the outboard motor, a device for regulating the spark and gas controls of the outboard motor.

In many outboard motors there is provided a combination spark and gas control lever, which lever is so designed and constructed that movement of the lever actuates both the spark and gas controls of the outboard motor. It is accordingly a desideratum of this invention to provide an attachment for an outboard motor which will permit the spark and gas control lever to be actuated from a remote point, which attachment is so constructed as to be readily mounted upon the outboard motor, and so as not to interfere with the normal operation thereof.

Referring now more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, it will be seen that there is provided a spark and gas control attachment, indicated generally by the numeral Ill, which is adapted to be mounted upon an outboard motor, indicated generally by the numeral l2, which motor is adapted to be mounted, as by a clamp I4, on the stern I6 of a boat l8.

The motor I2, which is of conventional construction, consists generally of the cylinder block 29, a flywheel 22, and a carburetor 24. A spark control lever having a handle 28 ismounted upon the motor l2 so as to be rotatable relative thereto about a substantially vertical axis, which spark control lever adjusts the timing of the spark to accelerate or decelerate the motor in a assays? manner well known to those skilled in the art. As it is also desirable to vary the mixture of the gasoline or other fuel admitted to the cylinders, there has been provided a control arm as which is operatively attached to the lever 26, which control arm 38 is adapted to operatively engage the carburetor synchronizing arm 32, to vary the mixture of fuel admitted to the cylinder.

The lever 26, and the control arm may be horizontally pivotally mounted upon the motor l2, in any desired manner, to control the spark and gas mixture, but, for purposes of illustration, there has been shown a motor which is provided with a horizontally pivotal stator plate 34, which stator plate is operatively connected in any desired manner to the time unit (not shown).

In order to control the spark and gas control lever 26 from a remote point, there is provided a stator pulley 36 which is fastened, in any desired manner, to the stator plate 34, and which pulley may be centrally apertured, as at 38, to provide a working clearance for the other parts of the outboard motor l2. It is believed readily apparent that the diameter of the pulley may be varied according to the dimensions of the particular motor on which the attachment is utilized, and that the method of attaching the same to the spark and gas control lever may vary, it being merely necessary that the stator pulley 36 be attached to the control lever 25 for rotation therewith about the same vertical axis.

A bracket 49 is fixedly secured to the cylinder block 29 as by fasteners '52, which bracket is formed complementary to the side of the cylinder block 20, and which has a pair of arms 46 and 46 projecting upwardly therefrom, for reasons which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds. The bracket to is provided with a transverse bore d8 which receives the collared bushing 50, through which bushing extends the headed pivot shaft 52, upon which the contro1 pulley 54 is rotatably mounted.

A belt 56 which may consist of a flexible cable is disposed about the stator pulley and the control pulley, the ends of the belt 56 being adjustably but non-rotatably secured to one of the pulleys 54, and non-rotatably secured to the other of the pulleys, such as the stator pulley 36, so as to drivingl connect the pulleys. For this purpose, the control pulley may be provided with a radially extending bore 58 through which the ends 60 of the cable 56 extend, and which ends are secured to each other, by means of a fastener 62 and a washer 64. It is intended that the size of the fastener, when mounted upon the ends of the cable 55, be greater than the diameter of the bore 58, so that the fastener will serve to retain the ends of the cable or belt 56 within the bore in the control pulley, whereby the cable is adjustably, and non-slidably attached thereto.

The stator pulley as may be provided with a pair of circumferentially spaced, radially extending bores 68 through which the belt is passed intermediate the ends thereof, in a manner clearly apparent from a consideration of Figure 2 of the drawings, whereby the stator pulley is nonslidably connected to the belt 56.

A pair of guide pulleys 68 are each rotatably attached to one of the arms 44 and 46 so as to guide the belt 56 between the control pulley 54 and the stator pulley 36.

A conventional Bowden wire '10 which includes an external housing I2 and a cable M which is longitudinally reciprocable therein is operatively connected to a throttle lever 16 which is mounted forwardly of the boat IS. The throttle lever 16 may be pivotally mounted as by the pin 18 shown in the drawings, or may alternatively be of the reciprocable type (not shown). The cable 14 is secured to the throttle lever 16, and the adjacent end of the housing 12 is secured in any desired manner to the adjacent portion of the boat, as by the housing fasteners 80. The other end of the housing 38 is non-slidably and pivotally mounted upon the bracket 49, the housing being received within a bore 82 in the block 84, which block is pivotally attached to the bracket 40 by means of a shaft 8'6 and locked thereto by means of a nut 88. The housing is non-slidably mounted in the block 84 by means of a set screw 98, which intersects the bore 32, and is adapted to engage the housing 12. The other end of the cable 14 may also be pivotally attached to the control wheel 54 by means of a similar pivotally mounted block 92 and fastener 94. It is further contemplated that the housing fasteners 88, which secure the housing 72 to the sides of the boat It, and also the fasteners which secure the cable to the throttle lever "H5 may be similarly constructed, to permit pivotal movement of the cable or housing, so as to prevent a sharp bend in the same.

From the foregoing, it is thought readily apparent that the respective diameters of the stator pulley 38 and the control pulley M may be varied, as well as to the radial positioning of the cable fastening block '32 on the control pulley, so that a predetermined movement of the throttle lever i8 will produce a corresponding movement in the control lever It is further believed obvious that the dimensions of the pulleys may be such that the amplitude of the movement of the control lever 26 will be considerably greater than the corresponding movement of the throttle lever 16, thereby permitting the use of conventional throttles to control the spark and gas controls of the outboard motor l2.

It will be further appreciated that the utilization of a control pulley which is rotatable about a horizontal axis to actuate the stator pulley which is rotatable about a vertical axis provides a compact attachment which may be so dimensioned as to be positioned entirely within the casing 96 of the outboard motor l2.

Further, since both the housing 12 and the control cable 74 are attached to the motor 12, it is believed apparent that steering movement thereof about the substantially vertical shaft 98 by means of which the motor is mounted upon the boat l8 will not impair the setting of the spark and gas control, by means of the throttle 16, since a change in the setting of the spark and gas control lever 26 requires relative shifting of the control cable 14 and the housing 12 and will not be affected by merely a shifting oi. both together.

From the foregoing, it is thought that the operation and construction of the device will be readily understood, and further discussion is therefore believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the invention to that shown and described, but all suitable modifications may be resorted to falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. In an outboard motor having a horizontally pivoted speed control lever; a stator pulley attached to said lever for movement therewith, a bracket adapted to be attached to said motor, a control pulley rotatably mounted on said bracket for movement about an axis transverse the axis of rotation of said stator pulley, means drivingly connecting said pulleys, a remotely positioned throttle operator, and actuating means terminally attached to said control pulley and said throttle operator, said pulley connecting means including a single cable entrained around said pulleys and means adjustably and non-slidably attaching the ends of said cable to one of said pulleys.

2. The combination of claim 1 including guide pulleys mounted on said bracket, said cable being entrained over said guide pulleys.

3. For use with an outboard motor having a stator plate, means for rotating said stator plate from a position remote from said motor, said means comprising a stator pulley adapted to be rigidly secured to one face of said stator plate, a control pulley adapted to be mounted on said motor adjacent said stator pulley, said control pulley being disposed substantially perpendicular to said stator pulley and a cable embracing said pulleys for simultaneous movement with respect to one another, throttle operating means remote from said motor, a cable extending between and connected at its ends to said throttle operating means and said control pulley whereby movement of said throttle operating means rotates said control pulley.

4. For use with an outboard motor including a stator plate and a cylinder block; mean for rotating said stator plate from a position remote from said motor, said means comprising a stator pulley adapted to be rigidly secured to one face of said stator plate, a mounting bracket adapted to be secured to said cylinder block, a control pulley rotatably mounted on said bracket and overlying a portion of said bracket, said control pulley being disposed substantially perpendicular to said stator pulley and a cable embracing said pulleys for simultaneous movement with respect to one another, throttle operating means remote from said motor, a cable extending between and connected at its ends to said throttle operating means and said control pulley, said control pulley including a radially spaced rotatably mounted axially extending block, said cable having one end secured to said block whereby movement of the cable will rotate said control pulley.

5. The combination of claim 4 wherein a bushing is rotatably secured to said mounting bracket adjacent said control pulley and said cable extends slidably and transversely through said bushing.

SAM H. NEW, JR. ROY L. McCUISTON.

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,835,631 Bradley Dec. 8, 1931 1,891,208 Schuetz Dec. 13, 1932 1,905,539 White Apr. 25, 1933 1,922,861 Prendergast Aug. 15, 1933 2,113,817 Sneddon Apr. 12, 1938 2,191,543 Osborne Feb. 27, 1940 2,486,072 Smith Oct. 25, 1949 2,492,213 Eder Dec. 2'7, 1949 2,503,121 Mills Apr. 4, 1950 2,547,010 Jackson Apr. 3, 1951 

